The May 24, 2010 Broadcast of METAL EMPIRE was dedicated to the late Ronnie James Dio.
THE PLAYLIST WENT AS -
Dio - Stand Up And Shout , Dio - Holy Diver , Black Sabbath - Country Girl , Rainbow - Mistreated (live) , Heaven & Hell - Bible Black , Black Sabbath - Turn Up The Night , Dio - We Rock , Rainbow - Stargazer , Black Sabbath - Heaven And Hell
Heaven & Hell - Follow the Tears , Dio - Lock Up The Wolves , Black Sabbath - T.V. Crimes , Dio - Mystery , Black Sabbath - Lady Evil , Rainbow - Catch The Rainbow , Black Sabbath - Children Of The Sea , Rainbow - Man On The Silver Mountain , Black Sabbath - Wishing Well , Dio - The Last In Line
Honestly, I put it together on the fly as I was unable to use much of what I had gathered together due to technical issues. I intend to throw on an "oddball" Dio track every week that I'm live in the studio to continue honoring the legacy of Ronnie James Dio. I've been a Dio fan since "Holy Diver" came out. I was in seventh grade at the time. Admittedly I lost track of his solo output in the 1990s, but I couldn't of been more excited over the Dio/Iommi/Butler/Appice reunion that was dubbed HEAVEN & HELL.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
Up And Coming Sounds
My Thoughts ...
Checking out some recent acquisitions for the Metal
Empire show.
Cathedral - The Guessing Game (Nuclear Blast)
The latest from British Doom-pioneers is a double CD release.
Doom is such an innopropriate tag for these guys who've shown
a steady progression in the diversity of their output over the
years. I've never given 2005's "The Garden Of Unearthly Delights"
a listen, so I'm afraid a comparison is lost to me.
I was a very big fan of the group in the early 1990s. "The Ethereal
Mirror" and "The Carnival Bizarre" along with the "Soul Sacrifice"
EP being my favorites. I confess that I kind of lost track of the
band after 1998's "Caravan Beyond Redemption".
Both discs bgin with relatively short instrumental tracks. "Immaculate
Conception" and "One-dimensional People" are both very unique and set
the pace nicely for the rest of the music. The music almost defies
description. It's still doomish and heavy at parts, while progressive
and almost funky at times. It's really unfair to even peg these guys
as a metal band (in the strict sense of the word) anymore.
Without dissecting every track, because it's entirely overwelming to
attempt in the first listen, I'm going to go so far as to say that
this release stands up with any classic 1970s album. It's Cathedral's
answer to "Physical Graffiti". I'm hard-pressed to pick a favorite
track. I can tell I'm going to be listening to this in it's entirety
quite often now that I've finally checked it out. "The Casket Chasers"
is going to be the first track I will feature on METAL EMPIRE. I really
enjoy CD 1's finale "Cats, Incense, Candles, and Wine" but I almost feel
like it's out of place on a metal show. It deserves a bigger stage.
1349 - Demonoir (Prosthetic)
Their cover of Pink Floyd's "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun"
from last year's "Revelations Of The Black Flame" has been in rotation
on METAL EMPIRE since I first discovered the band. I was immediately
intriqued due to the connection with Tom G. Warrior, who contributed
gutar and bass on said track as well as being credited for co-mixing the
CD.
"Demonoir" sees the band continue work with Warrior who serves as producer.
It sounds nothing like the Pink Floyd cover which is darkly "industrial-ish".
Rather, it's a savage, all-out black metal assault. "Pandemonium War Bells"
is my immediate favorite of the thirteen tracks on the standard release.
There is a limited edition with a bonus cd (limited to 666 copies) which
features covers of Morbid Angel, Exodus, and Bauhaus. I'd love to hear those.
Triptykon - Eparistera Daimones (Century Media)
The debut release of former Hellhammer/Celtic Frost/Apollyon Sun mainman Tom
G. Warrior. The songs contain elements from all of the above projects (maybe
not so much Apollyon Sun, but certainly more that than anything off of "Cold
Lake"). Overall, it is much akin to the final Celtic Frost release "Monotheist"
from 2006. Still it is a very distinct and solid outing.
I've already been playing the album opener, the roughly eleven-minute "Goetia".
I listen to this CD repeatedly while driving and highly recommend it to anyone
whose ever liked Celtic Frost (Unless you're expecting "Cherry Orchards", which
was really good in its own right, but absent here). I'll be putting "My Pain",
"Myopic Empire", and "In Shrouds Decayed" on my playlist as well. The cover art
is provided by H.R. Giger whose work famously graced the cover of the ultra-classic
Celtic Frost "To Meg-Therion".
Overkill - Ironbound (Nuclear Blast)
Okay, so this CD from the long-running thrashers came out in January, but I'm just
getting around to it. I liked these guys in high school (now I guess I'm telling
my age) when "Taking Over" came out. They've remained active through my set-backs
and line-up changes.
This is their first new release that I've checked out in a long time. "The Green
and Black" opens album number 15 and sounds pretty good. "Bring Me The Night" seems
like the immediate choice for METAL EMPIRE. The remaining tracks are all thrashy
but maybe a tad generic. I don't mean to suggest they're bad at all, I just have
my doubts as to how much repeated listening I'd give. We'll see ...
Count Raven - Mammon's War (I-Hate Records)
This actually came out in 2009, but I've only recently been aware of it. Of course
Count Raven is perhaps best-known for featuring Lord Christus (Christian Linderson) on
vocals who fronted Saint Vitus on their C.O.D. (Children Of Doom) release in 1992.
Dan Fondilious is the vocalist here (also guitar and keyboards). His singing reminds
me of both Ozzy Osbourne and the guy from Fireball Ministry (James A. Rota II). The
songs actually sound like a doomier Fireball Ministry. I'm not as impressed with the
overall material as I was with the last Fireball release ("Their Rock Is Not Our Rock")
but it does have it's moments. I played "The Poltergiest" last week and I think I'll
add "Magic Is..". It's got a killer guitar solo.
Purple Mercy - Purple Mercy (Twelve Gauge)
Another release from 2009. It opens with "1970s Acid F**k Fest" which won't be played for
the obvious reasons. They sound a lot like Electric Wizard with a flavor of Black Flag here
and there. That's how I'd describe them, anyway. I've featured "Cashed Hit" already, which
contains some of my favorite lyrics. The instrumental "Black Winds of the Underworld" will
probably follow eventually.
Mutiny Within - Mutiny Within (Roadrunner)
Fellow WAWL jock Mad Mike told me about these guys. (Hey Roadrunner - feel free to start
sending promos anytime). Their already over with me as they provide theme music to WWE star
Evan Bourne. Their sound has been described as Metalcore, progressive metal, alternative metal,
and melodic death metal. I suppose all of that is accurate but there's too many adjectives there.
Their a very skilled band with a recognizable sound. The vocals sometimes get on my nerves though.
I think the singer's a little too EMO to be doing metal. That's just my opinion. "Awake" is
the promotional video and I'll be adding it to the playlist.
Immolation - Majesty And Decay (Nuclear Blast)
The new one from one of the original death metal bands. You either love death metal or you hate it.
Immolation is one of those bands that you can almost identify immediately, which is perhaps one
of the highest compliments one can give a band of that style. They've referred to their sound as
being "The black cloud of metal" which illustrates the slower, sludgy parts to their material
which offeres a unique contrast to the characteristic faster moments. In many ways they're in
the same vein as Incantation. Maybe that's a bit more than a coincidence as John McEntee (Incantation
mainman) has served as a substitute member on occassion.
I like the title track, but "In Human Form" is a real attention-getter also. Look for it and perhaps
more later. This is a pretty strong release, but there's only so much of this I can feature.
Charred Walls Of The Damned - (self-titled) (Metal Blade)
The much-anticipated disc from this supergroup which is comprised of Richard Christy – drums,
Steve DiGiorgio – bass,Tim "Ripper" Owens – vocals, and Jason Suecof – guitar.
"Ghost Town" is the first single and video. It maybe a few months behind, but look for it to be added
to the show.
Burzum - Belus (Bylobog Productions)
Possibly the most controversial figure in the entire history of metal, Varg Vikernes returns after
his release from prison. If you are reading this and are unfamiliar with Vikernes or the circumstances
of his imprisonment, I suggest that you do some online research on your own time. There's way too much
history there for me to review here. In fact I refuse to offer any opinion in regard to that matter or
much of anything pertaining to the character once known as Count Grishnackh.
In fact, I'm not even going to review this CD. My feeling is simply that this cannot be ignored.
A quote from Vikernes regarding this release :
"I am aware of the black metal association with the name Burzum, and I have no real and serious problem
with that, but I personally see no reason to place "Belus" in any category. I think "Belus" musically
transcends all existing categories, but if I have to choose one - and for the sake of simplicity - I will
simply place it in the metal category".
"Belus' død" (Belus'Death) will find it's way to METAL EMPIRE, unless there's any objection.
Atreyu - Congregation Of The Damned (Hollywood)
This was released last October. I'll make no bones about it, this really isn't my cup of tea. So many
of these metalcore-type bands sound the same to me. It doesn't speak to me. A lot of this stuff makes
me think Green Day decided to go metal and there's not much positive about that.
So I've avoided this for awhile. That said, the single "Storm to Pass" is pretty catchy and I feel it
will make a nice addition.
White Wizzard - Over The Top (Earache)
I like these guys. There's a couple of tunes off the "Highspeed GTO" EP that are in the WAWL library
already. I see this group as a modern take on Iron Maiden, Dokken, and other classic 1980s acts.
It's strange that a retro type sound would be fresh, but these are cookie-cutter times. So much style-
over-substance. Too much formula. Too many hands feeding off the cookie jar. Too much B.S.
There's a lot to like here. Some of it doesn't really grab you immediately but "Out Of Control" rules
and the title track (the music video) are shoe-ins.
Okay, well that's going to do it for my first attempt at album reviews. I probably won't do this very
often, but who knows, I'm likely to have freetime in between semesters. Of course I also plan to add
a WHOLE SLEW of older songs as well. I have two hours a week to cover around 42 years of music and
I intend to showcase a little of everything. Sometimes the METAL EMPIRE broadcast will lean a bit
more in one direction than others. Hopefully that will become part of it's CHARM. I have no plans on
there ever being "A Typical METAL EMPIRE show". Join me on Mondays at 5pm Eastern for Two Hours of
Mayhem (not the band, but I'm sure they'll be in there now and again).
www.WAWL.org
Checking out some recent acquisitions for the Metal
Empire show.
Cathedral - The Guessing Game (Nuclear Blast)
The latest from British Doom-pioneers is a double CD release.
Doom is such an innopropriate tag for these guys who've shown
a steady progression in the diversity of their output over the
years. I've never given 2005's "The Garden Of Unearthly Delights"
a listen, so I'm afraid a comparison is lost to me.
I was a very big fan of the group in the early 1990s. "The Ethereal
Mirror" and "The Carnival Bizarre" along with the "Soul Sacrifice"
EP being my favorites. I confess that I kind of lost track of the
band after 1998's "Caravan Beyond Redemption".
Both discs bgin with relatively short instrumental tracks. "Immaculate
Conception" and "One-dimensional People" are both very unique and set
the pace nicely for the rest of the music. The music almost defies
description. It's still doomish and heavy at parts, while progressive
and almost funky at times. It's really unfair to even peg these guys
as a metal band (in the strict sense of the word) anymore.
Without dissecting every track, because it's entirely overwelming to
attempt in the first listen, I'm going to go so far as to say that
this release stands up with any classic 1970s album. It's Cathedral's
answer to "Physical Graffiti". I'm hard-pressed to pick a favorite
track. I can tell I'm going to be listening to this in it's entirety
quite often now that I've finally checked it out. "The Casket Chasers"
is going to be the first track I will feature on METAL EMPIRE. I really
enjoy CD 1's finale "Cats, Incense, Candles, and Wine" but I almost feel
like it's out of place on a metal show. It deserves a bigger stage.
1349 - Demonoir (Prosthetic)
Their cover of Pink Floyd's "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun"
from last year's "Revelations Of The Black Flame" has been in rotation
on METAL EMPIRE since I first discovered the band. I was immediately
intriqued due to the connection with Tom G. Warrior, who contributed
gutar and bass on said track as well as being credited for co-mixing the
CD.
"Demonoir" sees the band continue work with Warrior who serves as producer.
It sounds nothing like the Pink Floyd cover which is darkly "industrial-ish".
Rather, it's a savage, all-out black metal assault. "Pandemonium War Bells"
is my immediate favorite of the thirteen tracks on the standard release.
There is a limited edition with a bonus cd (limited to 666 copies) which
features covers of Morbid Angel, Exodus, and Bauhaus. I'd love to hear those.
Triptykon - Eparistera Daimones (Century Media)
The debut release of former Hellhammer/Celtic Frost/Apollyon Sun mainman Tom
G. Warrior. The songs contain elements from all of the above projects (maybe
not so much Apollyon Sun, but certainly more that than anything off of "Cold
Lake"). Overall, it is much akin to the final Celtic Frost release "Monotheist"
from 2006. Still it is a very distinct and solid outing.
I've already been playing the album opener, the roughly eleven-minute "Goetia".
I listen to this CD repeatedly while driving and highly recommend it to anyone
whose ever liked Celtic Frost (Unless you're expecting "Cherry Orchards", which
was really good in its own right, but absent here). I'll be putting "My Pain",
"Myopic Empire", and "In Shrouds Decayed" on my playlist as well. The cover art
is provided by H.R. Giger whose work famously graced the cover of the ultra-classic
Celtic Frost "To Meg-Therion".
Overkill - Ironbound (Nuclear Blast)
Okay, so this CD from the long-running thrashers came out in January, but I'm just
getting around to it. I liked these guys in high school (now I guess I'm telling
my age) when "Taking Over" came out. They've remained active through my set-backs
and line-up changes.
This is their first new release that I've checked out in a long time. "The Green
and Black" opens album number 15 and sounds pretty good. "Bring Me The Night" seems
like the immediate choice for METAL EMPIRE. The remaining tracks are all thrashy
but maybe a tad generic. I don't mean to suggest they're bad at all, I just have
my doubts as to how much repeated listening I'd give. We'll see ...
Count Raven - Mammon's War (I-Hate Records)
This actually came out in 2009, but I've only recently been aware of it. Of course
Count Raven is perhaps best-known for featuring Lord Christus (Christian Linderson) on
vocals who fronted Saint Vitus on their C.O.D. (Children Of Doom) release in 1992.
Dan Fondilious is the vocalist here (also guitar and keyboards). His singing reminds
me of both Ozzy Osbourne and the guy from Fireball Ministry (James A. Rota II). The
songs actually sound like a doomier Fireball Ministry. I'm not as impressed with the
overall material as I was with the last Fireball release ("Their Rock Is Not Our Rock")
but it does have it's moments. I played "The Poltergiest" last week and I think I'll
add "Magic Is..". It's got a killer guitar solo.
Purple Mercy - Purple Mercy (Twelve Gauge)
Another release from 2009. It opens with "1970s Acid F**k Fest" which won't be played for
the obvious reasons. They sound a lot like Electric Wizard with a flavor of Black Flag here
and there. That's how I'd describe them, anyway. I've featured "Cashed Hit" already, which
contains some of my favorite lyrics. The instrumental "Black Winds of the Underworld" will
probably follow eventually.
Mutiny Within - Mutiny Within (Roadrunner)
Fellow WAWL jock Mad Mike told me about these guys. (Hey Roadrunner - feel free to start
sending promos anytime). Their already over with me as they provide theme music to WWE star
Evan Bourne. Their sound has been described as Metalcore, progressive metal, alternative metal,
and melodic death metal. I suppose all of that is accurate but there's too many adjectives there.
Their a very skilled band with a recognizable sound. The vocals sometimes get on my nerves though.
I think the singer's a little too EMO to be doing metal. That's just my opinion. "Awake" is
the promotional video and I'll be adding it to the playlist.
Immolation - Majesty And Decay (Nuclear Blast)
The new one from one of the original death metal bands. You either love death metal or you hate it.
Immolation is one of those bands that you can almost identify immediately, which is perhaps one
of the highest compliments one can give a band of that style. They've referred to their sound as
being "The black cloud of metal" which illustrates the slower, sludgy parts to their material
which offeres a unique contrast to the characteristic faster moments. In many ways they're in
the same vein as Incantation. Maybe that's a bit more than a coincidence as John McEntee (Incantation
mainman) has served as a substitute member on occassion.
I like the title track, but "In Human Form" is a real attention-getter also. Look for it and perhaps
more later. This is a pretty strong release, but there's only so much of this I can feature.
Charred Walls Of The Damned - (self-titled) (Metal Blade)
The much-anticipated disc from this supergroup which is comprised of Richard Christy – drums,
Steve DiGiorgio – bass,Tim "Ripper" Owens – vocals, and Jason Suecof – guitar.
"Ghost Town" is the first single and video. It maybe a few months behind, but look for it to be added
to the show.
Burzum - Belus (Bylobog Productions)
Possibly the most controversial figure in the entire history of metal, Varg Vikernes returns after
his release from prison. If you are reading this and are unfamiliar with Vikernes or the circumstances
of his imprisonment, I suggest that you do some online research on your own time. There's way too much
history there for me to review here. In fact I refuse to offer any opinion in regard to that matter or
much of anything pertaining to the character once known as Count Grishnackh.
In fact, I'm not even going to review this CD. My feeling is simply that this cannot be ignored.
A quote from Vikernes regarding this release :
"I am aware of the black metal association with the name Burzum, and I have no real and serious problem
with that, but I personally see no reason to place "Belus" in any category. I think "Belus" musically
transcends all existing categories, but if I have to choose one - and for the sake of simplicity - I will
simply place it in the metal category".
"Belus' død" (Belus'Death) will find it's way to METAL EMPIRE, unless there's any objection.
Atreyu - Congregation Of The Damned (Hollywood)
This was released last October. I'll make no bones about it, this really isn't my cup of tea. So many
of these metalcore-type bands sound the same to me. It doesn't speak to me. A lot of this stuff makes
me think Green Day decided to go metal and there's not much positive about that.
So I've avoided this for awhile. That said, the single "Storm to Pass" is pretty catchy and I feel it
will make a nice addition.
White Wizzard - Over The Top (Earache)
I like these guys. There's a couple of tunes off the "Highspeed GTO" EP that are in the WAWL library
already. I see this group as a modern take on Iron Maiden, Dokken, and other classic 1980s acts.
It's strange that a retro type sound would be fresh, but these are cookie-cutter times. So much style-
over-substance. Too much formula. Too many hands feeding off the cookie jar. Too much B.S.
There's a lot to like here. Some of it doesn't really grab you immediately but "Out Of Control" rules
and the title track (the music video) are shoe-ins.
Okay, well that's going to do it for my first attempt at album reviews. I probably won't do this very
often, but who knows, I'm likely to have freetime in between semesters. Of course I also plan to add
a WHOLE SLEW of older songs as well. I have two hours a week to cover around 42 years of music and
I intend to showcase a little of everything. Sometimes the METAL EMPIRE broadcast will lean a bit
more in one direction than others. Hopefully that will become part of it's CHARM. I have no plans on
there ever being "A Typical METAL EMPIRE show". Join me on Mondays at 5pm Eastern for Two Hours of
Mayhem (not the band, but I'm sure they'll be in there now and again).
www.WAWL.org
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